Mets vs. Cardinals

So this is what hell looks like. As a Cub fan, I can think of no worse match up.

As I understand Major League Baseball, one team has to win this play off. I suppose, then, that I am for the Cardinals. For while I hate the Cards, I only do so because I was raised to. Generations of my family has just hated the Cardinals because that's what right-thinking Northsiders do.

The Mets, though. It's personal with me and the Mets, as it always is when your heart gets broken. I was still a little girl, but I loved just about every one of those Durocher Cubs. They were my team, a great team. And those 1969 Mets came out of nowhere, like the posessed demons they are, to dash our hopes. I hate the Mets.

So I guess all I can say is, "GO DETROIT!"

This is very bad news

I knew it was coming, and yesterday was the day. I received a postcard from Guthy Renker, officially announcing that my beloved Time Release Moisture is no longer available through Principal Secret.

I called in and changed my next order. In December I will receive Reclaim Night Cream instead. We'll see. I'm trying to maintain an open mind, but I'm not happy.

I know I'm fixating. But this is what I do. Takes my mind off how much I hate my job and how I keep getting these annoying little tension headaches and how today is payday and it's time for me to sit down and actually attack that stack of bills that awaits me on the dining room table.

Belated props to the Birthday Boy

October 9 was the anniversary of John Lennon's birth. Perhaps that's why I've been thinking of him so often lately.

Or maybe it's this "shut up and sing" shit I keep reading about Streisand. I think it's amazing that anyone would actually begrudge her using her own stage show to express her opinions. I mean, I just shake my head. She's an interpretive artist and it's her show. Artists have been commenting on our society, tweaking and annoying us, at least since Uncle Tom's Cabin. You don't like what Babs has to say? Change the channel when she appears on your TV and don't go to her show. But saying she shouldn't speak her mind from the stage ... that's downright unpatriotic. What's next? Should authors stop using the pages of their books to express themselves? Directors stop using film?

I also think it's interesting that no one complains when a country western singer performs a song that celebrates the Iraq war. Or when Patricia Heaton does interviews lauding Bush and his policies. Isn't she "just a sitcom actress?" Shouldn't she just "shut up and be funny?" Or when that blonde Mrs. QB is all conservative on The View. Or what is broadcast 24/7 on FOX. I would never complain about any of those things either, because while I disagree with all of them, I think dialog is essential. Everyone should have a voice. Especially artists. We live in a free society, and freedom of self expression is one of our cornerstones.

I realize I think this is good and right and natural and important because I grew up on The Beatles. I'm a Paul Girl. I love him. (No, really. I have loved him since I was 6 years old.) But I always thought John was really neat. Paul has inspired decades and decades of romantic fantasies, but John inspired me to think. One of the first political songs I ever "got" was "Revolution." I agree with John. It's our responsibility to work within the system for change. I've supported candidates with time and money ever since I've been old enough to vote.

"Power to the People," "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)," "Imagine," "Give Peace a Chance." Look what happened when John "shut up and sang," folks. I love thinking of what he'd be doing now, at age 66. I like to think that while their musical styles are different, he'd be touring, too. And like Streisand, speaking his mind and shouting down hecklers. Though I think instead of dropping the F bomb he'd say, "Sod off!" (I also think it's interesting that people complain that she swore at someone who paid hundreds of dollars for his ticket. Isn't he the asshole for interrupting a show that he knows his fellow audience members spent hundreds of dollars to see? This whole thing is just befuddling to me, like I've fallen down the rabbit hole.)

Just as there was John, there's Paul. John tried to heighten our political consciences, Paul believes we need "Silly Love Songs." The world is flexible enough for both points of view. You don't like politics mixed with your easy listening? Barry Manilow is touring, too, and his ticket prices are lower than Streisand's. Go see him instead.

But we shouldn't try to discourage the artist from commenting. Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Robert Redford, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen ... all of them have used their art to expand my horizons and I'm grateful. Most of all, I'm grateful to John Lennon, who turned me on to it all. Funny how it was a Brit who turned me on to one of the best, one of the most intrinisic things about being American.

Happy belated birthday, John. I still miss 'ya.

Thanks, neighbor!

Frasier's dad, John Mahoney, has come home. Since the series ended, he has been living full-time in his Oak Park apartment, the one he's had for decades. Even when Frasier was being filmed, Mr. Mahoney would come home at least once a month. When I first moved here we were literally neighbors. Since I bought my own place, we're about 5 blocks apart. We've never met, but I have seen him around town over years, usually during the holidays.

I appreciate that when he is interviewed, he is careful to say that he has come home to Oak Park. He specifies this fabulous village. He works downtown, but he lives in Oak Park.

All the best people do.